Photolysis of perfluoroacyl fluorides

The photochemical decarbonylation and coupling of acyl fluorides containing perfluoroalkyl and perfluoro(oxa)alkyl chains have been reexamined. The re action on either single acyl fluorides or on their binary mixtures has allo wed the formation and isolation of macromolecular perfluoro(oxa)alkanes hav ing interesting physical-chemical properties. These perfluoropolyethers are also useful as model compounds and standards to better characterize more c omplex mixtures of similar commercial products. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S .A. All rights reserved.